Wow what a great 2 days for the Tampa Bay Ray organization!  For the first time ever we had a Ray selected as a starter – Evan Longoria.  For the first time ever the Tampa Bay rays sent 5 guys to the mid season classic.  For the first time ever a Tampa Bay Ray player was named the All Star game MVP — Carl Crawford.  For the second year in a row a Tampa Bay Ray represented the organization in the Home Run Derby – Carlos Pena.  Oh and for the first time ever the Manager and coaching staff for the Tampa Bay Rays managed the AL team.

What a tremendous catch by Carl Crawford to bring the ball off Brad Hawpe’s bat back into the park and keep the game tied.  CC was so focused on that ball!  CC also contributed with a hit in 3 attempts.  Ben Zobrist came in late to go 0 for 1 attempt but made the final out of the game.  Jason Bartlett entered and made 3 successful, effortless plays on ‘D’ while going 0 for 1 at the dish.  Carlos Pena made it as close as the on deck circle but never made an appearance in the game.

Carlos participated in the HR Derby and held his own against the big boppers.  Although he didn’t make it out of the first round I was still proud to see him representing our Rays in the Derby.

The accomplishments of these guys just prove how far the Rays have come in a relatively short period of time.  The new regime took over and made changes that began to make a difference.  The quality of the organization and the people within it is obvious.  Guys like CC, Carlos, Zobi, JB and on and on….  Good hard working, “blue collar”, humble guys that no matter their accomplishment constantly strive to improve.  They remain quiet in the press and let their play speak for them.  Well these last 2 years have spoken volumes to me.    

I am proud to be a Tampa Bay Ray fan!

The Tampa Bay Rays did something over the weekend they just could not afford; they lost the series to the lowly Oakland Athletics.  Look, with each passing game the margin for error gets smaller.  You must beat the teams you should beat period.  They Rays did an outstanding job of sweeping division rival Toronto the previous 2 games, win the first game of the series then proceed to give away the last 2 games.  Granted doesn’t sound too bad considering it gave them a 4-2 home stand.  You must look at the big picture in this case.  The Angels swept the Yankees this weekend!  Yes, we could have picked up 2 more games on the Bronx Bombers and we let the opportunity slip right though our fingers.  We could have powered into the break being only 1 game out of 2^nd place and a potential wild card but we limp in and now sit at 3. The game on Sunday was so frustrating I had to leave after the 7^th inning because I just could not stand it anymore. 

The break has come at a good time not only for players but for fans as well.  I need a break!  The funny thing is had last year not happened the way it did we’d be thrilled sitting in 3^rd place only 3 games back of the #2 spot.  Ironic…. they say be careful what you ask for!

SP David Price out dueled SP Roy Halladay to earn his 3^rd victory of the season and secure the series sweep for the Rays early Thursday afternoon.  Price looked much better than his previous start going 6 innings scattering 6 hits, 1 ER, 1 free pass while striking out 7.  This was a VAST improvement from his last outing in Arlington!  The thing that I found most impressive was his battery mate, Michel Hernandez.  This guy works so well with young pitchers it’s awesome to watch.  He called a great game for Price and Price hit his spots thus we win.  Hernandez is by far, in my opinion, the best catcher on our roster.  He calls great games, has confidence in what he does and the pitchers seem to respond well to him.  I’d like to see him suit up more often especially in tandem with Price and Niemann.

The offense did just enough to get by this game.  They were 3 for 11 with RISP but that’s all we needed with the pitching we got today.  Carlos Pena came through with a big 2 run double in the 5^th to put the Rays ahead for good.  Carl Crawford continues to tear up the base path swiping #44 that lead to the Rays first run of the game. 

This was a great series sweep heading into the weekend!  It is nice to put a little cushion between us and the Jays and keep up with the Red Sox and Yankees.  Looking forward to more of the same when the Rays take on the A’s this weekend! 

See you at The Trop

Hey that says it all plain and simple.  SP James Shields was outgunned by Blue Jay SP Romero.  Romero had it and Shieldsy did not.  Shields gave up 3 long bombs for a total of 5 runs (4 ER) in 7 1/3 innings.  Shields scattered 7 hits and 1 walk while striking out 8.  The problem was the hits Shields did give up were of the long variety. 

The offense wasn’t much of a help either as they gave up 10 easy outs by way of the K and were 0 for 5 with RISP.  Pat Burrell proved ineffective once again by grounding into a double play with the bases loaded in the 7th.  This guy is proving to be a very poor DH – I’d rather see Willy get his at bats.  At least Willy usually puts the ball in play!    

The Rays offense managed just 4 hits off Romero and easily let him off the hook after each of them.  Ben Zobrist accounted for half the Ray offense collecting 2 hits in 2 attempts with 2 free passes.

Well this was a very unenthusiastic performance by the Rays to say the least.  I would have thought they’d come out gunning for this sweep but they looked like they lacked the desire to win this game.  Hopefully they improve on their desire to win by the time we hit the ground in Texas!

All in all – the Rays are 8-2 in their last 10 games.  Excellent streak they have going but they cannot let up now.  They need to go into the All Star break with momentum and come out strong on the other side. 

SP Jeff Niemann tossed a gem against the hard hitting bats of the Toronto Blue Jays in the opening game of the 3 game set.  Niemann looked confident on the mound and had the presence I’ve been waiting to see all season long.  Niemann went 7 1/3 innings scattering only 4 hits, 1 ER and 2 walks while striking out 1.  He had the powerful Blue Jay hitters off balance all night long.  Niemann earned his 7^th victory, to lead the Ray staff, by out pitching Blue Jay staff ace Roy Halladay.  This was absolutely a pitchers duel as Doc gave up only 2 ER in his return for the DL.

The 2 ER’s Halladay gave up were courtesy of a tremendous blast by Carl Crawford in the 3^rd inning into the upper deck of the Rogers Center.  The score remained 2-0 through the 6^th inning.  The Rays offense added 2 more runs in the top of the 7^th to complete their scoring.  One of the runs was courtesy of Pat Burrell’s 3^rd HR of the season. 

This victory places the Rays up 2 games on the 4^th place Blue Jays and 1 ½ games behind the idle Yankees in the wild card race.  This race is going to be hot and heavy after the All Star break! It’s so awesome to watch the Ray’s turn around from the beginning of the season.  The starting pitching has become more reliable, the bull pen has become the shut down group they were last year and the Ray offense is explosive, fast and great to watch.

Game 2 will see SP Matt Garza on the bump for the Rays.  Matt must keep the ball in the park!  This Blue Jay offense is a very powerful bunch and could open this game up in a hurry if he starts giving up the long ball.  If he keeps it in the Rays win! 

SP David Price earned his second victory of the season and led our Rays to a sweep of the Marlins Sunday afternoon.  David’s day was again a bit of a mixed bag.  He limited the Marlins to 2 hits, 1 ER and 4 K’s.  But he walked 5 and ended up needing nearly 30 pitches to get out of the first inning.  He still struggles with putting guys away when he’s far ahead in the count.  This was evidenced by a 12 pitch at bat by Ramirez who eventually singled in a run.  Now granted, it was Hanley Ramirez, a very good hitter BUT this has happened time and again to all the Rays pitchers.  You need to find a “put away” pitch guys!  Every pitch a hitter sees gets them 1 pitch closer to a hit and every pitch a pitcher throws gets them 1 pitch closer to the bench.  If we could finish these hitters we’d have starting pitchers going deeper into games and not be yanked due to high pitch counts.  Overall Price did an adequate job of making pitches when he needed to.

The offense got off to a fast start and never looked back scoring 2 runs in the 2^nd inning.  BJ Upton drilled a rope into the LCF seats on the first pitch of the 3^rd inning.  BJ has been swinging the bat much better the last month and ended the day going 2 for 4 at the dish with the HR, 2 runs scored, 1 RBI and a stolen base.  Overall just about everyone on the offense contributed and the hits came when the opportunities presented themselves.

This was a great home stand for the Rays!  They finished 5-1 and are currently sitting solo in 3^rd place 2 games out of the WC and 5 games out of first.  They are starting a HUGE series Monday in Toronto.  Ray fans send out all your good mojo as the Rays open with Halladay vs. Niemann! 

Go Rays! 

The Tampa Bay Rays offense placed an explanation point on the series routing the Phillies 10-4 in the series finale Thursday evening at The Trop.  The Rays fell behind 4-0 after the top of the first but big bats wielded by Ben Zobrist and Willy Aybar leveled the score and the Rays never looked back.  Zobrist hit a 2 run rocket into the LF seats to pull the Rays to within 1 at the close of the first inning.  Aybar hit a ball on the rope right into the left field fair pole to tie the game in the bottom of the 2^nd.  The Rays bashed Phillie pitching for 15 total hits and collected 8 free passes!  Out of the 15 hits 8 were for extra bases including double by Carlos Pena, Gabe Kapler, 2 by Carl Crawford and Pat Burrell.  Gabe Gross chipped into the shenanigans with a nice gap triple.  This was a great game for these guys, a nice statement! 

SP Andy Sonnanstine knew he was pitching to most likely stay in the bigs.  SP Scott Kazmir is due off the DL this weekend and a move (actually 2 with the return set for Chad Bradford as well) will have to be made.  He came out in the first inning and it was tragic.  The score was 3-0 before the first out was recorded.  Sitting in the stands I had to listen to the obnoxious Phillie fans screaming behind me….Ugggg.  I was less than happy as were the Ray fans around me.  After Sonny cleared the first inning he was absolutely shut down the rest of the game!  What an amazing turn around!  He lasted 5 1/3 innings scattering 6 hits (most all in the 1^st inning), 4 ER and 1 free pass while striking out 7 Phils!   This really showed me something about this guy.  He is very professional and composed no matter what’s happening on that mound.  He can let go of his mistakes and move forward for a better result.  That being said it will probably still be Sonny sent to AAA as he is the guy with options left…..

Great game!  Great Series!  Look Ray fans get to The Trop!!!!!!!!!!!!!   You are missing the most dynamic, exciting show on turf! 

SP Matt Garza rebounded from his last terrible outing by pitching 8 innings of 1 ER baseball to allow the Rays to even the 3 game set at 1 game each.  Garza was awesome tonight!  He did run into trouble in the 4^th by walking the bases loaded but regained his form and got out of the inning with 0 runs scored.  Garza allowed only 3 hits in 8 innings while striking out 7.  This was absolutely his best performance in a few games.  If it had not been for the quantity of pitches he threw in the 4^th inning he could have easily closed out the game with under 100 pitches.  The home run bug was the only negative on his stellar performance.  He allowed a HR to Werth that accounted for the only Phillies scoring of the night.  The pitch Werth hit was not a bad pitch.  It was clearly on the edge of the outside corner but it was right at belt level.  Garza, along with the rest of the Rays pitching staff, really need to focus on keeping the pitch down as well as away.

Pat Burrell really provided the only scoring the Rays would need considering the outstanding job done by Garza.  Burrell connected off his former teammate to blast his 2^nd HR of the season and driving in 2 runs.  Burrell ended the night with 3 RBIs total which is what we signed him to do.  Hopefully this starts the turn around at the dish for Pat. 

Base running was a bit of an issue for me in this game.  Both Carl Crawford and BJ Upton made a decision after they hit balls to the outfield that they were out.  They started jogging up the line and watched as both baseballs fell to the turf.  Then they turned on the afterburners.  CC was thrown out at 3B when he would have gone in standing easily had he been running out of the box.  BJ was safe at 2B on a close play that should have never been close.  Come one now guys, let’s not start this laziness!  BJ made another costly base running mistake tagging from 3B on a short fly to LF and was gunned at the dish.  Bad move BJ!  You have the middle of the order coming up with only 1 out – you cost the team a run!  Be smart guys, be smart!

The opposite side of this was the hustle by Ben Zobrist in the 8^th inning on a ground ball to SS J-Roll.  Zobrist was burning from the time the ball hit the bat and was safe at 2B.  This was awesome to watch!  The Rays ended up scoring 5 runs in the bottom of the 8^th.

All in all, good game.  A few mistakes to learn from here and there – I never want to see this base running BS again!  The rubber game of the set sends SP Andy Sonnanstine to the mound for the Rays.  This should be an interesting start for Sonny as he knows he is on the bubble of wearing a Durham Bull’s uni again with the impending return of Scott Kazmir.  Sonny should come out as determined as ever to have a great outing.  I’ll be there to cheer him and the Rays on to the series victory!

SP David Price stepped onto the mound and into trouble from the start in game 1 of this 2008 World Series rematch against the Phillies.  Price was rocked in the first inning allowing 6 runs on 40 pitches including a 3 run blast by John Mayberry.  Price ran into another crooked number in the 4^th inning by giving up another 4 runs.  Price again showed he had no “put away” pitch which is a very big disappointment.  He got out ahead and ran counts to 2 strikes then hung a pitch that clearly was not working, slider, over the heart of the plate for batting practice.  I am a bit perplexed as to WHY Price and C Dioner Navarro continued to throw the slider whilst it was getting hammered!  If Navi was calling for it Price should have shook him off!  If Price was shaking off Navi to get to it Navi should have ran out to the mound and told him to forget that pitch for tonight!  Where the hell is the leadership?!  Mr. Price may have just worked himself back to AAA with the impending return of SP Scott Kazmir.  If there was any question before who the odd man out may be this may have answered it.  Price clearly is not ready for the big stage yet.  Not only in this start but all of his starts have been hindered by high pitch counts and the inability to pitch deep into a game.  In AAA he really needs to find an “out” pitch!

The bullpen stopped the bleeding and finished the game strong once again.  RP Winston Abreu and Lance Cormier completed 4 2/3 innings allowing only 3 hits and 1 free pass while striking out 5.  This bullpen has turned its’ season around.  They were getting pounded at the beginning of the season now they are 3^rd in ERA in the AL.  Nice job guys!  Now go and straighten out those starters please!

The defense had a large part of the blame for the crooked numbers put on the board.  Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena each committed their 7^th errors of the season while BJ Upton committed his first.  This lead to 5 of the 10 runs scored being unearned!

The offense was pitiful against Phils SP Moyer.  They only managed 5 hits off a guy who tops the radar at about 80 mph.  As a whole the team was 2 for 10 with RISP.  Not much good went on here and Pat Burrell continues to struggle at the plate.  The guy who was signed to be the big RH power bat and protect Pena has now been bumped down to 6^th in the line up due to his struggles.  Sorry but this was a bad signing!

The Rays attempt to put this horrendous performance in the past as they send SP Matt Garza to the bump in game 2.  Now, same prediction as the last game he pitched – if he keeps it in the park, Rays win.  If not rays will struggle.  This is a very simple formula, keep the ball down and away and mix in the occasional buzz on the hands to keep them honest.  Go Rays! 

“The key will be Garza keeping the ball in the park.  Garza has given up 10 HR to date while giving up only 19 all of last year.  If he keeps in it we win – simple.  If not, we’re in for a battle.”

That my friends was my statement in yesterday’s blog.  What did SP Matt Garza do in the rubber game of the 3 game set?  Garza allowed 3 long blasts that cost the Rays 4 ER and the game/series.  That gives Garza 13 long balls given up to this point in the season.  He gave up only 19 all of 2008. 

The offense wasn’t much help either.  Our #3 and #4 hitters continue to try to pull pitches that are outside and low.  Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria combined for a whopping 1 for 8 with 5 K’s with 0 runs scored and 0 RBI’s.  As professional hitters these guys must see what the opposition is doing to them and adjust to it.  Until they can prove they can spread the ball around the field do not expect to see an inside pitch to either of them.  If I was the opposing pitcher they see nothing but off speed down and away.  

Ben Zobrist came clutch in the top of the 9^th by knocking in BJ Upton and Carl Crawford with a single to close the gap to 1 run.  Jason Bartlett provided the other run by banging out a triple and scoring on a Dioner Navarro single.  

This team is looking more like the .500 team they have been predicted at being this season.  They cannot get any clutch hitting from their big bats.   The pitching has been average to below average.  If these guys don’t turn that corner soon and start to make some ground they will see themselves sitting in 4^th place at the end of this season.